Leg wound could link robbery, shootout

Keith Paul

Monday, June 12, 2000 | 11:21 a.m.

Henderson Police are trying to determine if a bullet wound in the leg of a suspected Bellagio hotel-casino robber occurred during a shootout in March that left two armored car guards dead.

"We're looking into the wound on (Oscar) Cisneros' leg to see if it was sustained during the course of the robbery and double slaying (outside) of the Ross (Dress for Less store)," Henderson Police Capt. Richard Perkins said this morning.

Cisneros and Jose Vigoa, the other man charged in connection with the Bellagio robbery, have not been charged in connection with the March 3 armored car robbery that escalated into a shootout, leaving Armored Transport of Nevada guards Richard F. Sosa and Gary Dean Prestidge II dead.

Perkins said he believes it is only a matter of time before murder charges are filed against the pair.

"These are our suspects," he said.

Vigoa, 40, and Cisneros, 23, were arrested last week on a host of robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder charges connected to holdups at the Bellagio, New York-New York, MGM Grand, Desert Inn and Mandalay Bay hotel-casinos.

This morning Justice of Peace Deborah Lippis held both men without bond "due to the natures of the crimes." Prosecutor Frank Coumou said he would file a criminal complaint within five days, and the judge set the next court hearing for June 20.

When asked if they have ever been represented by a public defender, Cisneros shook his head no, and Vigoa said, "I was in federal (court)."

Vigoa was sentenced to 86 months in a federal prison on a 1991 drug-related conviction. He was released from prison in December 1996 and put on five years supervised release, said Thomas Collins, supervising U.S. probation officer.

Vigoa was keeping up the appearance of complying with the terms of his release and meeting with his probation officer, Thomas said. But on Wednesday Vigoa's probation officer, Pedro Durazo, filed petition in federal court claiming Vigoa violated the conditions of his release.

Durazo said in court papers he saw the video surveillance from the Bellagio robbery and identified Vigoa holding a firearm during the robbery.

Durazo wrote "given the offender's criminal background ... as well as being armed and suspected of being involved in other robberies, including one involving a double homicide, he is considered extremely dangerous."

But Henderson Police aren't in a hurry to charge the men with murder.

"We need to look at every piece of evidence and make sure that everything is done correctly so we have an air-tight case when we go to court," Perkins said.

He noted Vigoa and Cisneros were being held on serious charges without bond and police are still searching for other suspects in connection with the robberies and slayings. In most of the cases three robbers were involved.

Both Perkins and Coumou said this morning that preliminary ballistics tests conducted by Metro Police confirm that a 7.62 caliber shell casing found outside the Desert Inn at an armored car robbery scene and a shell casing found at the homicide scene in Henderson were fired by the same gun.

Police seized several guns -- including high-powered assault rifles that fire 7.62 caliber bullets -- during a search of Vigoa and Cisneros' homes Wednesday and storage areas and will compare those casings to the guns, Coumou said.

Metro Police have suspected the two men for at least several weeks in the series of casino robberies dating back two years. Detectives got a break Wednesday when they compared a picture of Vigoa to a Bellagio surveillance video that captured images of the robbery. They also called his federal probation officer, who confirmed it was Vigoa.

Henderson Police have been working with Metro and the FBI since the March 3 slayings of the two armored car guards.